Avatar: The Air Nation War
by chaoko954
Summary: The Air Nation has made a comeback and they want revenge on the world. Our heroes find themselves caught up in the events leading to war and through friendship, new abilities, and crazy battles, they will try to stop the war and make peace once again.
1. A new adventure unfolds

Hey all, im kinda new to all this, but i think i'm supposed to have a disclaimer here... here goes.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN AVATAR. I have; however, used the world and references to some of events and characters off the show.

The rest is my and my friends ideas.

**AVATAR**

**The Last Air bender, Continued…**

Ripples disturbed the water once more as another failed attempt dispersed. Again, Saile moved his hands in the necessary motions, concentrating on the shape of a dragon. A small watery snake began to siphon from the small pond in front of him and form in the air above, but once again it broke and returned to its home.

"Don't be discouraged Saile, it took your father almost two weeks to get to where you've gotten in less than two days! At this rate you may even become a better water bender than even the chief!"

"I won't give up grandpa!" Saile said determined, "I know I can do it, it's just that something goes wrong right before the dragon forms. I just can't seem to hold it together."

"Creating an elemental dragon is the first technique taught after the basics for a reason. It teaches a new level of control and it forces you to use your bending in new ways."

The old man lifted one of his hands in the air and drew a semi-circle in the dirt as his foot flowed in the forms he knew too well, and finally brought his hands together. With his finger-tips touching, he paused for a moment, and then ripped his hands apart, which caused a sliver of water he had drawn out of the pond to grow bigger and materialize into the face and head of a fierce dragon. He then moved his arms in an arc, which caused the dragon to circle Saile. He dropped his arms and the dragon fell away.

Saile, who had been watching the entire thing very intently, suddenly lit up and a smile broke out across his face.

"Grandpa!" Saile exclaimed, "I think I know how to make it work!"

"Oh really now? Well, let's see it boy!"

Saile flowed through the forms as perfectly and as gracefully as he had done a hundred times before. He created the sliver of water in the air and waved his arms to begin calling the dragon.

_Ok Saile, _he thought, _this is where you always go wrong. Hopefully this will work…_

Saile ripped his hands apart to call the dragon, but at the same time, by increasing his concentration, he turned the water to ice. The head of the ice dragon began to form throwing the ringing sound of ice on ice across the water.

Saile waved his arm as his grandpa had done just moments ago to get the dragon to move out across the water. It looked as flawless as his grandpa's dragon, only it was made entirely of ice.

"Saile…" his grandpa said breathlessly, "That was an incredibly complicated technique! That requires much more concentration than creating a dragon of water. I'll admit it, I'm impressed!"

"Oh…" Saile said, "I just thought ice would be easier to deal with than water, cause you know, water is so… liquidy."

"Ha! Well you are _MY _grandson, and _HIS _kid, so I guess I shouldn't really be all that surprised."

Saile grinned. Ice was always easier for him to deal with than water. The elders always talked about how hard it was to use ice. Like how much concentration, training, and will power it takes to master it. Saile felt as if water should be the part that needed all that. To him, ice was easy.

To show off a little more to his grandpa, Saile opened his hand so that his fingers were pointed skyward. The dragon's smooth surface suddenly sprouted foot long spikes from head to tail. Saile smiled and let the dragon melt and fall back into the water. His grandpa stared.

...

Tain walked the dirt road, trying to keep a good pace to end the day, but the sun was setting fast. He knew it was time to call it a day. Yawning, he walked off the trail into the woods until he found a small patch of clear land.

_This looks like a good enough spot._ He thought.

He stomped the earth with his foot and raised his hands in front of himself making a point. As he did this, two slabs of earth rose up out of the ground and made a sort of make-shift tent. He tossed his pack inside and then crawled in next to it using it as a pillow. It wasn't long after his eyes closed that he fell asleep.

...

Saile's eyes snapped open at the sudden rush of wind through the house. He had overheard his grandfather and the neighbors talking the night before about the rumors of the air bender's supposed plan for revenge against the fire nation. Over the last few months, they had apparently been secretly training for and researching new technologies. It was said that they were not only planning their revenge against the fire nation for what they had done to their people, but also planning against the white lotus for supporting the fire nation. Not only that, but the white lotus were a form of government peacekeepers. Either way, the air nation was not to be trusted right now.

As he looked around the room, he noticed a shadow moving out in the other room. Saile decided to check it out. He grabbed his glass of water off the table next to his bed and walked into the other room. As he turned the corner he ran into the shadowy figure.

Instinctively he drew the water out of the cup and started to form the dragon. Right as it was about to form a ball of air flew out from the figure and disrupted the dragons formation. His fears confirmed; he sent a few water droplets toward the figure. As the droplets flew through the air they elongated and Saile froze them into deadly ice sickles. The mysterious air bender spun the air around the ice sickles, which slowed them down enough for him to dodge.

"Saile! Stop! I'm a friend!"

Saile froze. "Who are you?"

"I'm a member of the white lotus and a friend of your grandfather. I come with very important news. I'm sorry I startled you, but the need for secrecy is great."

...

Tain woke up from a sound sleep to the loud roar of unknown animals outside. He jumped up as quickly as he could to investigate, but he had forgotten how short he had made the tent so he slammed his head into the pointed roof. He immediately fell back down holding his wounded forehead, uttering a few swears. Thinking carefully this time, he slammed his foot down and the earth tent slid back into the ground. He instantly discovered the sound of the animals and the sight made him shiver.

Hundreds of air bison were soaring through the sky with at least two to three riders on each ones back. The sun still hadn't risen so the mass of bison were able to fly by undetected and out of sight. Tain decided he wanted to know where they were headed so he grabbed his bag and took off running. As he ran he realized what this could mean.

Please don't let this confirm the rumors.

...

A crude smell roused her from her dreamlike sleep. She sat up, only to find her hands bound with a small iron lock. She looked around to gain her bearings, and noticed that the dark room she was in was filled with natural gas. She frowned.

Well, so much for trying to fire bend my way out, she thought, I'll just end up blowing myself up.

Heavy footfalls announced the arrival of someone outside her little cell. The door creaked as it opened and a large man walked in. He was he wore no clothes on his upper body with the exception of the sash that kept a blazing white katana tied to his back. His chest had one very prominent scar running in the opposite direction as his sash making an "x" on his body, along with three smaller scars on his right shoulder. He still wore armored pants, as if he was in the middle of dressing when he was told of the capture. He was obviously someone with very high rank, and he probably deserved it. After examining the girl in front of him he spit on the ground next to him, which made the girl cringe.

"Well, well, look who we have here. A cute lil' lady from the fire nation." He spit again.

The girl glared defiantly but decided it best not to say anything. She glanced at the door.

"Oh, don't even think of escaping." He said while walking over to the door and opening it to reveal a full solider guard outside the room. Then walking back over to the girl, he grabbed her and put his face in her face so that her defiant golden eyes were level with his dirty grey ones.

"I'm sure you have already noticed that this room is gassed. If you fire bend even a spark, you will be blown… to bits. Now, little fire bender, tell me who you are, and maybe I will let you live. So unless you want to join these other three," he gestured toward the marks on his shoulder, "you will TALK!"

The girl whimpered, but said nothing.

"What? Are you a mute?" he asked. "I have no use of a mute."

The girl still said nothing.

"Have it your way." He said. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and picked her clean off the ground. She dangled helplessly as he held her there for a few moments. Then with the bulge of a muscle, he threw her into the opposite wall where she crumpled. Even though she had started to tear up, she still managed to stare defiantly at the man.

"The fire nation is nothing but trash and scum. I will be back, and when I am, I will get you to talk."

The door slammed as he exited the little room. The girl felt her shoulder where she had taken most of hit from the wall. It was definitely bruised. And she had felt quite a bit of hair get pulled out when he picked her up. She felt her hair, fingering the part that the big man had nearly ripped out. She smiled though, as she pulled the key out of her hair. The guard had held her for so long that she had plenty of time to swipe it, and since her hair really had hurt when she hit the ground, she had no problem hiding it there in plain sight. A soft click rang through the tiny room as the lock fell off. She smirked as she pictured the face of that ugly man when he found out she had escaped.


	2. Gotta save the girl!

Tain had started to fall behind the large group of bison. In a panic to keep up, he slammed the earth with his foot and jumped into the air. A large rectangular slab rose up under him and as he landed. He pushed his hands forward which made the earth surge forward and he took off surfing the earth. He remembered how back home, he had used this technique a lot to get from his house to the main city, but the thought of home made his stomach tighten, so he put it out of his mind. He was soon under the mass of bison again, and since he was so far below them, none of the riders would notice him following. He kept his arms swaying back and forth in order to keep the earth moving and soon it became just a methodic rhythm as his thoughts strayed to his home again.

Well, there's no going back now…

He realized that the bison were going to cross the water to the north water bender tribe. He knew that the bridge was not too far from where he was so he decided to take it to keep up with them. Luckily this bridge was made by earth benders long ago, so he was able to use his move to cross it. Once across he noticed that the bison had started to descend into what looked like a base of some sort. As he got closer he realized that the bison were just dropping off the riders on their backs and heading off into the distance.

After a while he had made it to the outer wall of the camp and noticed that there were armed guards patrolling each carrying a white katana.

I guess I'll wait till night fall before I go investigating.

...

"What! So the rumors are true?" Saile's grandpa asked astonished.

"Shhh! Your grandson might over hear." The mysterious man whispered back.

Too late for that… Saile thought happily.

The mysterious man had started talking again.

"… and apparently there is an old building that the air benders are using as some sort of base not too far from where they captured her."

"Are you serious? What is he going to do about that?"

"He doesn't know yet, our spies were the ones who discovered that fact and we have yet to inform him. I was only sent here to tell you since you are the closest White Lotus member to their base. I also need to tell you that we do have a few spies in the air nation working to find out who is loyal to the air master. There are still good air benders you know." The man pulled out his pai-shou tile and showed it to Saile's grandpa, who also got his out and showed it. They firmly shook hands.

"O.k. my friend, I'll see what I can do." Lot said.

Saile had heard enough. He heard that a girl was in trouble and that someone didn't even know about it yet. This was his chance to show the world who he was. He snuck into his room, grabbed some things, and took off out his window running south toward the shore. He knew exactly where the building was. His parents had taken him there when he was very young. The thought of his parents made him choke back tears. His dad had left not too long after his mom died. Grandpa had told him that his dad had a very good reason for doing so, and that he should never be mad at his dad for leaving, that he should be proud. Saile made it to the shore in no time at all, and once he was out on the water, he froze a block of ice and launched himself forward on a large wave.

I'm coming girl. Hold on.

"So what all do you want me to do?" Saile's grandpa asked the man.

"Actually Lot, we don't want you to do anything, a team is being sent there tomorrow. What we really need, is the whereabouts of your son…"

...

Not too long after releasing herself, the girl heard the creak of the door starting to open. She flattened herself against the wall behind the door. She heard the guards talking on the other side.

"She needs to be moved downstairs to the torture chambers. Commander Sid's orders."

So that's his name. She thought.

The first guard came in the room, and she jumped on him. Summoning all her strength she punched the guard in the throat. He grabbed his neck, unable to cry out and went down. She then ran out of the room and was face to face with two other guards. She dispatched the other two in the same way as the first, by hitting them quickly in precise spots.

Now I need to find out what the air nation is up to.

Sid walked into the gassed cell to find out what was taking the three guards so long. He found them all tied together and unconscious, each one stripped to their underwear, and the handcuffs the girl was wearing were defiantly attached to the door handle.

...

Tain stood scoping the base. Night had finally fallen and he was ready to find out what was happening.

This is not good… though I could just be jumping to conclusions; I mean they're air benders! What's the worst that could happen?

He decided to go in. The guard was keeping a tight watch so he got down on the ground on his stomach and used his earth bending to cover himself with earth. He then crawled all the way to the wall. It must have worked well enough because the light passed over him multiple times and he kept on crawling unnoticed. When he got to the gate, one of the air bender men were coming back in, so Tain managed to slip in with him at just the right time.

When he came upon the section where the riders had set up camp, he slipped into the first tent he came across. Luckily the tent was empty. The owner had probably gone outside to patrol or something. Inside the tent were a few small belongings; a bedroll, a picture of a woman, and, to Tain's delight, a guard uniform with a white katana. He was surprised at how far he was going to discover what going on. Cautiously, he slipped back outside and started walking the streets toward the larger building.

…

Saile landed on the shore near the base. He probably still had another fifteen minute walk until he would be there.

Even if I am a kid, I know I can do this. I mean I know all the basics, and grandpa said I could be even better than my dad. Plus I can make the dragon now, so that should be good enough. Right?... no! I know I can do this! I will save that girl!

Saile was approaching the main entrance of the air bender base, and seeing that there were people coming in and out, he decided to go around to the back of the building where he used to go as a kid. When he got close enough, he peered over the wall and realized that there were more people then there was space for them. All the tents were crammed together and the fires were few and far between so as not to catch on the tents. Saile looked over at the building he wanted to get into. The building the girl was in.

How am I supposed to get in there? He thought. Oh! I know!

Reaching down, he uncorked a little bottle he kept at his side and drew some water out. He formed a small little square of water on his palm, then, lowering it, he made it expand and turned it to ice. He jumped on it and made it rise into the air. As he was moving up to one of the tower windows, he noticed a lone solider come out of one of the small tents on the perimeter. He looked slightly peculiar, like something about him was just out of place. Taking his attention away from the man and putting it back on the tower, he realized that he was already at the window. He managed to open it, which wasn't very hard considering the buildings age. Once inside his gaze was immediately held by a large statue. Directly in front of him was a large statue that depicted a young air bender boy holding down a very mad looking man in rich looking clothes. His eyes looked as if he were about to burst with flames.

This must be one of those ancient statues of that one famous avatar from five hundred years ago. Wish I could remember his name…

"Hey! You're not supposed to be in here kid!" a guard said as he rounded a corner.

"Uh-oh" Saile panicked.

Saile took a battle stance, ready to take down his first air bender. The guard, seeing this, drew his white katana. Saile, realizing this was going to be a serious battle, turned and ran.

"What am I doing?" He yelled, "I'm just a kid! I don't want to die!"

"Get back here!" the guard yelled and gave chase.

The two were quite comical as they ran though the winding pathways of the tower. He was surprised that they didn't run into any other guards.

Wait. Why am I running? I came here to save a girl! He thought bravely.

Saile found the courage to turn around and face the guard. As he pulled out the stream of water, the guard faltered for a second, but quickly decided that he could still take the boy. Saile spread the water out on the floor and quickly froze it. The guard realized what he was doing, but it was already too late. He slipped across the floor and hit the back of his head on the ground, instantly knocking him out cold.

That was lucky. Saile thought while releasing the breath he was holding.

He walked over to the guard and poked him in the arm and jumped back. No response. He poked him again, but this time in the face. Still no response. Curiously, he picked up the white katana that the guard had been holding. The blade was amazing to Saile. He looked it over in wonder, and then took a couple of practice swings.

I wonder why they all carry these things.

As he sat there in wonder, a door opened across from him. An important looking official walked out of the room.

"What's all the racket out here?" the man was saying as he walked out. Then he noticed Saile standing above the knocked out body with the sword. Saile realized how bad the scene probably looked to the man and quickly dropped the sword.

"Don't just stand there! Get the boy!" the man screamed into the room.

Without delay, three nasty looking men poured out of the room and looked at Saile.

Why does this always happen to me? Saile thought as he turned and started to run.

He managed to make it down the hallway and turn the corner, only to find himself face to face with another guard.

...

The girl had heard the entire interaction from around the corner. She already had a plan.

"Get behind me!" She whispered as the boy ran around the corner.

She grabbed him and pulled him into the shadows as a small "Huh?" escaped him. As the guards ran past, the girl visibly relaxed. She inspected the curious young boy and figured he was about the same age she was. She also realized that he must be a native water bender based on his clothes. Saile wasn't sure exactly what to do. To him, he had just run into another guard that had just helped him escape. She realized this and took her helmet off, letting her dark hair fall just past her shoulders.

"Look kid, I don't know who you are, but since you're obviously not one of them and I know you don't want to get captured, you should come with me. That or you can go back out there on your own."

Saile quickly shook his head.

"Good. Now be quiet and come with me." She said as she put her helmet back on and walked of. She didn't even bother to see if the kid had followed. Saile was troubled by his thoughts.

Who IS this girl? Is she trying to lead me into a trap? Is she really even a guard? I need to find the girl I came here to save! Uggh! What should I do?

Not wanting to be left alone, he decided to follow the guard girl. Maybe she would lead him to where the imprisoned girl was.

I just hope she's not part of the air nation. Though if she is, I'm pretty sure I can beat one girl.

"Hey. What's your name anyway?" he whispered once he had caught up.

...

Tain stalked the corridors of the strange building looking for something out of the ordinary. He heard people talking as he passed a few open doors, but he didn't even bother to look inside, and with his uniform on, no one even took a second glance at him. He had just turned a corner when he heard the door directly in front of him open. Quickly, he jumped back around the corner, and out of sight. He looked peeked around to see a big man step out of the room. The guy looked to see if anyone was watching him, and locked the door. Luckily he walked off the in the opposite direction of Tain.

"Perfect." Tain said to himself.

Once the man's footsteps had faded away, Tain crept up to the door. He used his bending to make a small ball of earth, which he molded into a thin strand and slid into the keyhole. Using tiny movements he smiled as the lock clicked. Once inside the room he quickly shut the door. Looking around, Tain found himself in an empty office with a big wooden deck in the middle. The only other thing in the room was a small stack of papers on the desk, and a large white chair. Curious, he sat down and started sifting through the papers. Most of them were boring. He found that most of them were bills showing how much was owed, or who it was owed to, while others detailed things that were supposed to happen or plans that were being made. All of them were useless. He was about to give up when he noticed a small dark colored envelope near the bottom of the stack. It was already opened, so he decided to see what it was.

"I assume by your last response, that the soldiers are nearly ready to should be arriving in a week. With them are another seven dozen air bison. Use the men and beasts to crush the earth nation cities south of where you are located. Kill the resistance and capture as many as possible. Be quick about it, for we cannot risk the fire nation learning of our plans. I await news of your victory. Also, you no longer need to worry about the Avatar."

Tain stared at the paper with wide eyes as he wondered at the implications of the paper. As he folded the letter to put it back in the envelope, a man burst through the door.

"Captain! There are two intrud…" he trailed off as he realized Tain was not who he was supposed to be. He reached for his sword, but Tain was faster. He slammed his fists into the wall behind him, which made a small stone from the wall behind the guard collide with the poor man's head. Tain smiled to himself, proud of how he managed to handle the situation.

"There's an earth bender in there! He must be with the other intruders!" he heard from outside the room.

Cursing, he ran out, hearing swords being drawn behind him.

...

"Pleeease... can't you just tell me your first name." Saile pestered yet again.

"Shut up!" she whispered back hotly, "I can't tell you that right now, so just be quiet and follow."

The two rounded a corner and ran straight into a very large man with three scars on his exposed shoulder. The girl instantly recognized him as the man that threw her around.

"Oh, great…" she whispered to Saile, "Get behind me and don't say a word." She pulled Saile behind her and squashed him into the darkest part of the wall. She stood at attention as he walked by.

"You there!" he walked over to the disguised girl, "have you seen the girl we captured the other day or an earth bender boy in an air nation uniform?

"No sir!" she said in her manliest voice.

"Very well, return to your duties" he said as he walked down the hall and rounded the corner.

She breathed a sigh of relief and hurried down the halls until she got to a part of the base that looked nicer than the rest. The door had borders and there were small statues in some parts of the hallway. She turned down another hallway and noticed evidence of earth bending.


	3. Rescue plans

Tain ran as fast as he could down the halls. Reaching in his pocket, he smiled as he felt the folded piece of paper that held very valuable information. The guard uniform was all but useless now that most everyone looking for him knew what to expect. The white katana of the air nation rang out as he unsheathed it.

_Might as well use what I have, _he thought to himself.

It felt awkward in his grip, but it was better than it just hanging on his back. He ran down a few more halls, completely lost, and decided to stop.

"There's just no end to this place!"

Frustrated, he turned to the wall. Feeling the wall with his hand, he took his stance. With one solid punch he contacted the wall. Whether it was because he was frustrated or the wall was weak, he'll never know, but when he hit the wall, it exploded outward, showering people in bits of rubble. Moonlight poured into the hall, acting as a spotlight on Tain. A full ten man air bender squad was standing directly in front of him looking very angry, and very dirty. They reacted fast.

Three of the air benders thrust their palms out and launched balls of air at Tain. He managed to pull up a wall of earth in time, but the force of the three combined shattered it. Panicking, he turned and ran back the way he had come. He hadn't made it very far when the wall in front of him blew open with a gust of wind. Three more air nation guards stood in his way.

Tain knew he was in trouble. He stomped the ground causing six decently sized rocks to pop out of the ground and sent them all hurling toward the men in front of him. Without breaking stride, he jumped in the air and kicked the ceiling, causing it to collapse and separating him from the new threat. Hearing the men in pursuit behind him, he spun and threw the katana at them. They easily knocked it away with air.

As he turned back around, the rubble from the ceiling blew apart yet again. They laughed as he desperately tried to bring a wall of earth to block them off. Tain felt something come down hard on the back of his head.

_No...,_ he thought desperately as the blackness enveloped him.

…

BOOM!

The building shook with the force of the explosion. Saile and the girl entered the first room they came upon to try and avoid the attention of the guards. The building was swarming with people trying to figure out what was going on, and the rest were looking for them.

"You need to hide. NOW!" the girl barked at Saile. He dived under a large wooden desk. The timing was perfect, because at that moment the door burst open and a guard walked in.

"Have you seen a young dark-haired fire bender girl, a small water bender boy with white hair, or an earth bender boy with dark hair?" he asked impatiently.

"No, I was told to get some papers for Sid" the girl said in her man voice again.

He saluted his thanks and closed the door.

"So you can bend water?" the girl asked Saile.

"Umm yea, but how'd you know that?" he asked confused.

She turned away without answering. Saile stood there for a few seconds, waiting for the girl to turn back around and answer him. When she didn't, he frowned.

"Look girl," he said impatiently, "there's a girl somewhere in this place that I'm supposed to save. Can you help me, or not. Cause if not, I'm outta here."

"Why do you care so much about this 'girl' anyway?" she asked getting irritated.

"Well… I heard my grandpa talking to his white lotus friend about a girl who needed to be rescued and I felt like I should be the one to save her. I thought it might be fun."

The girl faltered at the mention of the white lotus.

"You thought it would be_fun_ to risk your life for some girl you know nothing about?" she questioned.

"Yup"

She looked at the kid in wonder and gave in. "Sure. I'll help you find this girl, and while we're at it, let's see if we can find the earth bender kid too."

"Deal, but you better not be lying…"

Together they crept out of the room. They only made it about halfway down the hallway when Sid appeared around the corner. He grinned ruefully as he saw Saile.

"Good job solider. You caught the water bender."

"Yes sir, I was just coming to find you." she replied.

_How does EVERYONE know I'm a water bender! _Saile thought.

She pushed Saile to the ground in front of her.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!" Saile whined.

Without warning, and lightning fast, the girl punched the large man in the stomach hoping to end it quickly. Surprise and realization crossed his face as she pulled away holding her hand. She jumped back narrowly dodging his fist.

"Whose side are you ON lady!" Saile yelled thoroughly confused.

"NOT his side." She yelled back, pointing at the evil looking man. She grabbed her helmet and chucked it at the man. He easily knocked it aside.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our lovely little prisoner and the little water boy trouble-maker. All we need now are a few more guards and we got ourselves a party." He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Within seconds more men appeared behind him.

Saile managed to put two and two together. "You're the girl I'm supposed to save!"

The girl grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her as the guards started advancing. She moved her arms in an arc and brought up a wall of fire between them and the enemy.

"And you're the fire bender too!"

"Are you always this dense!" she snapped back.

Sid jumped through the flames snuffing out a fire that had started on his pants. He started making the forms to air bend but the girl reacted quickly. She kicked a close range fireball into his face. He screamed in agony and fell back as it connected.

"We're going, NOW!" she yelled as she grabbed Saile's wrist and started running.

"You may be pretty, but you sure are mean."

"We can talk later, for now we need to find that earth bender and get out of here." She said, and with that they ran.

…

Tain slowly regained consciousness. He was being dragged through the same winding halls that he had been running through all night.

_Good, I wasn't out that long. I'm not in a cell yet._

He attempted to move his hands, but found that there was a tight rope of air that bound them. He looked up at the enemy to discover that only the three air benders were dragging him, though in his present predicament, there was no chance of escape.

…

Saile and the ever mysterious girl ran through the building. They looked in every door they crossed and slowly made their way into the deeper parts of the base, hoping to find the cells.

They were about to turn down a long hallway when the girl pulled Saile back by the hair. She shushed him before he could complain and put her finger on her lips. She peeked around the corner to witness three big air benders turn the corner with another person in a guard uniform in tow.

"That's him." She whispered to Saile.

"How are we gonna get him away from the guards?" he whispered back.

"We don't need to fight them, just use some water bending to make them slip. Then we'll run in a grab him before they are able to chase us."

"Is that all you think water benders can do? Make people slip!" Saile said getting offended.

She smirked. "Well that's all I thought _you_ could do. I mean, for all I know you might not evenBE a water bender. You're just some little kid who wandered in here with a deluded fantasy of saving a pretty girl you don't even know. You're just pathetic." She goaded.

"Pathetic! I'll show you!"

Saile jumped out in front of the guards and pulled water out of the gourd on his hip.


	4. A letter to the fire nation

The guards faltered as they saw Saile's determined face and the stream of water he pulled out of the gourd. Knowing that he was probably planning to save their prisoner, they started getting into position to air bend.

_Don't be afraid, _he thought with brave determination, _It's just like when grandpa was there._

The water he pulled out of the gourd thinned and turned into a line in the air out in front of him. He quickly started moving through the forms he had nearly perfected only a day ago. The head of the dragon began to form.

"What the…" an air bender gasped. They had all stopped in their tracks, switching from offensive to the defensive as they watched in awe.

The head had formed from the water line and the body of the dragon appeared right behind it, and just as it was about to completely materialize into a full dragon, Saile pointed his fingers up and the entire beast turned into ice. He sent the dragon charging at the front most guard and right before it connected with him; Saile balled his fists and flicked his fingers outward again. The dragon shattered into a hundred smaller ice spikes. Using his concentration to control the spikes, he maneuvered them to miss the captured boy and pin all three guards to the wall. Realizing that all his move did was pin them, not detain them, he bended a larger piece of ice to hit each one upside the head.

"BOOYAH!" Saile laughed, "In your FACE girl!" He looked back to brag some more, but the girl wasn't there. He turned back around to see the girl standing over the unconscious boy. She had one of his arms held in the air as if she were about to throw his over her back.

"Are you gonna stand there, or help me?"

"Did you see that!" Saile exclaimed, ignoring her question. "I was like Hoo Ah… BOOM, and then bang, smack, clunk!" he acted out a mini version of what had just happened.

"Yea, whatever water boy, I'll congratulate you later, but can you _please_ help me get him out of here. I think there's a door around here that leads out the back of the building."

Saile frowned as she dowsed his flame of pride. Sulking, he stomped over and snatched up the boy's other arm. They hurried through the hallways toward the exit.

_Stupid girl… I can't believe I even THOUGHT of saving her!_

…

The camp was surprisingly quiet when they made it outside, but shouting could be heard from the building as the guards started assembling search parties. The girl sighed as she thought about the amazing water bending she had just seen. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before, and she really wanted to tell the boy, only she was more focused on saving their lives.

They shuffled toward a nearby river that looked like it was connected to the ocean. As they neared it, they realized that it was flowing into the ocean.

"Saile, can you make us a raft of ice and pilot it upstream? I have a camp there that I need to get back to."

"Sure, no problem" he complied.

She was surprised at how fast he agreed. She figured he would still be upset from earlier.

"Good, because those search parties are hot on our tails. We need to move before the sun rises."

Saile made quick work of forming the ice raft. It was difficult for the girl to find stable footing until Saile made little notches for her to hold onto. They slowly made their way up river.

After about an hour they got off the ice raft, just as the sun started to peek over the mountain tops. The girl led them to a small cave, not too far from the river, where she had set up camp. When they got there, they set the earth bender boy down and the girl immediately started going through his clothes.

"What are you doing!" Saile asked, watching in horror.

She pulled out the folded piece of paper he had in his pocket.

"Just as I thought." She said to herself. She unfolded and read the paper. As she did so, her face paled.

"Just as I feared… but where does the Avatar play into this?" she worried aloud. She walked over to her tent and went in. After rummaging around, she came back out wearing her normal clothes and was carrying a beautiful messenger hawk.

"His name is Hawkee. He's been my loyal hawk for some time now." She scribbled a small note on the back of the letter she had found on the boy and tied it to the hawk's leg.

"You know where to go." She said to the hawk, and it took off, powerfully flapping its wings, until it reached the altitude where it could soar. Saile stared at it in wonder. He loved animals, especially birds. He then turned to the girl.

"So are you ever going to tell me your name?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes as she considered whether or not she should tell him. The boy on the ground started to move around. She smiled to herself. There was just something about the two boys that told her she could be honest.

"My name is Cayenne. I live in the fire nation capitol."

…

Tain had heard most of the interaction between the two. He opened his eyes and sat up. Saile and Cayenne watched him as he dusted himself off and checked his pocket for the letter he had taken. When he realized it wasn't there he looked at the two with suspicion.

"Don't worry, we're on your side." Cayenne explained, "I took the letter out of your pocket and sent it to the fire nation."

"You had no right taking that." he said calmly.

"Well neither did you." she shot back.

"It was supposed to go to the earth nation to warn them about the pending attack. With your little stunt, the only way they'll find out now is if I go and tell them myself." He looked down at his hands wondering if his word would even mean anything anymore, probably not after what had happened. No one would want to listen.

Tain stood up. "Thank you for saving me and all, but I'm going."

"Wait, did you say that the earth nation is gonna get attacked?" Saile asked, "I better tell my grandpa."

Tain snorted "What good is an old man?"

"Who, my grandpa? He's a member of the white lotus. He knows everything." Saile shook his head like it was a fact.

_A white lotus member? _Tain thought, _if I can talk to a member, he'll spread the information through their entire network. The earth nation will have their information, and it will be from a source they can trust too._

"I'll go with you then." Tain said simply, "I'll be back later, and by the way, my name's Tain." He got up and walked out of the camp.

"Uhhh, should we follow him? Saile asked Cayenne.

"He did say he'd be coming back…" she replied. "What a strange boy."

Tain walked back to where he had first come upon the air nation base. Before he had snuck in, he had hidden his pack under a bush near a twisted tree. He had no problem finding the tree again, and after reuniting with his stuff, he changed back into his normal clothes. By the time he made it back to the camp, it was almost night time again. Saile and Cayenne were eating some of the fire nation food that was in the tent, and upon seeing Tain, they made him up a plate. They all ate in silence. After the food was finished, they packed up camp and began the trek back to Saile's house.

…

"How much farther is it to the village, Saile?" Cayenne asked with obvious displeasure showing in her voice.

"Not too far", he replied, "It's just up ahead."

"I could have told her that, captain obvious…" Tain mumbled while kicking a rock as he walked. Saile shot him an angry glare. Cayenne sighed. The two had been unbelievably hard to deal with. She couldn't decide who was worse: Saile who never shut up, or Tain who never talked except to insult Saile.

They finally made it to the village and headed toward Saile's house.

"Ah, home sweet home." Saile said as he reached for the door handle. Right as he was about to turn it, the door blew open. In the doorway, illuminated by the light inside, was Saile's Grandpa, and he was not happy.

"SAILE! IN THE HOUSE. NOW."


	5. Lot

A/N: I don't know how you all have started pronouncing the names, but this is how we intended.

Saile = Sail (boat) Tain = Pain with a T. (mountain) Cayenne = Kai-anne (like the pepper)

Tain and Cayenne watched as Saile's grandpa opened the door and started yelling. Saile instantly got defensive.

"Grandpa, I just wanted to help." He protested.

"It doesn't matter. You shouldn't be messing in matters that are beyond your control. There are white lotus members on their way to take care of it tomorrow. I'm just happy you are safe."

"They don't need to grandpa! I saved her myself" the girl snorted. "And him too! We're gonna go to the fire nation."

"What? You did?" he said sounding astonished. He looked at Cayenne as if he just realized who she was. "Saile, do you have any idea who you saved?"

Cayenne shook her head to answer the question for him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you princess. I am Lot."

Saile couldn't believe it. There was no way_ she_ could be a princess. Even Tain looked surprised. Lot, who had cooled off, turned to Tain.

"Forgive me young sir; I am Lot, Saile's grandpa and the lead member of the water division of the white lotus. It is a pleasure to meet you, young earth bender."

"My name's Tain. Pleasure to meet you too." He said.

"Well my grandson, it seems I may have been wrong about you after all. You have begun an adventure and have already made two very peculiar friends. You become more and more like your father every day." He beamed with pride. "Come in! Come in."

As they all settled in, Lot made tea and had everyone gather around the table. They filled Lot in on the events that transpired in the base. He was the most surprised to hear the bit about the avatar.

"This surprising turn of events has changed a great many things. If you young ones are on your way to the fire nation, I guess I should finally come out of retirement." He turned to Saile, "The white lotus member who was here last night informed me that the white lotus is looking for your father." Saile was shocked. He hadn't heard anything about his father in years.

"Since I may be the only one who has any chance at finding him, I will leave after I send word to the white lotus members who will arrive here tomorrow. I'll tell them to help out the earth nation cities that are in danger. For now, our focus should lie on sleeping, for tomorrow is the start of a great journey for you three."

Saile had started to tear up when he realized he was leaving home.

"Oh, grow up you sissy!" Cayenne said as she punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey! That hurt!" Saile yelled, abandoning his sadness.

They looked over at Tain, who seemed to be lost in thought, deciding what to do. Here were two people who had saved him, but stole his information. Then, told him that the earth nation was in danger, but sent in the best thing possible to help it. He was torn by what to do and his thought strayed back to his home. When he looked up he noticed Saile was staring at him and they locked eyes for just a moment. He then remembered how annoying Saile was and quickly looked away.

Saile looked back at his grandpa who smiled proudly.

"Don't worry grandpa, I'll be fine. Besides, I'm ready now. I know that I can go out there and…and… SHOW THE WORLD WHAT I'M MADE OF!

…

Cayenne smirked as she nearly snorted again.

_This Saile kid is something else, _she thought. _Still not sure about the earth bender kid though…_

She laughed as Saile yelled at her again for laughing at him.

"Hey Saile, how old are you anyway?" she asked

"I'm fifteen!" he said with pride.

_Good. At least I know I'm older than him, even if it's only by half a year._

"Never would have guessed that by the way you carry on." She teased further.

As Saile protested further she left him and went to talk to Lot.

"Mr. Lot, do you happen to know where Banzai the hermit lives? I went all the way to Ba'sing'sei to find him but I got carried up this way when I heard about the air nation. No one seems to know exactly where he lives."

"Actually I may be able to help you out. He lives on the outskirts of a small village about four days walk south from here. Do you think you are ready for what he has to teach you?"

Cayenne was surprised. "Why… yes I do. I'll head out tomorrow morning. If you don't mind could you tell those two to meet up with me in the city of Tieran?"

"Of course princess." Came his kind reply.

…

Tain was thrashing in his sleep. He screamed and started to bend, but woke in a cold sweat. He opened his eyes to the small room in Saile's house. He looked through the window and realized that it was almost dawn.

"I'm so sick of having that dream…" he said to himself.

He wiped his brow and headed outside. When he opened the door he was greeted by the cool night air, and decided to look around. He peaked into Saile's room window to see him sprawled out on his bed. The blanket was only jus covering what it need to and there was a line of drool from his mouth to his pillow.

_This ought to be good._

Kicking the wall, Tain caused a small brick to come loose and he bended it over near Saile. He slammed it down on his bed. Saile jumped out of bed half asleep and started to bend his spit. It slimed around the room until he realized that the blanket he was wearing had fallen off. Tain fell over because he was laughing so hard.

…

Saile walked out into the main part of the house rubbing his eyes and yawning. His white hair was sticking up in random places, but by the time he sat down for breakfast it had almost completely fallen back to into place by his shoulders.

"Saile!" Lot said, "Did you talk to Cayenne last night? She left earlier this morning. She told me to tell you to meet her in the ferry city of Tieran in about a week and a half."

Saile's eyes snapped open as he became fully awake at the news.

"She left! Without even saying goodbye!" he was sad at first, but realizing she now had the head start he decided to get going too. Tain and Saile collected the rest of their stuff. Lot slipped in a few extra things into Saile's bag to help them on their way.

"There's a map in there that shows almost every major city in the world. It also has most of the hidden white lotus camps on there so guard it well. That map is priceless."

Tain was already waiting for Saile when he made it outside. He nodded to Lot as Saile ran to catch up, and together they headed out into the distance.


	6. Separation

A/n: Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed so far! My friends and I brag about every single one we get. Keep them coming!

The dirt road they were traveling on was getting more and more dull. Tain was getting annoyed. He could handle the scenery; it was just that Saile wouldn't stop whistling. He kept smiling and skipping around like a lunatic. Tain glared at Saile in annoyance and pulled the scarf he had around his neck up over his mouth.

"Why are you always so gloomy?" Saile asked as he skipped by.

Tain whipped his head around. "Why are you so freaking happy? This is serious kid! We need to focus on the problems at hand. The fire nation princess is here in the water nation, and there are air nation troops everywhere, yet you're skipping around like a retard." He whipped his head back around and kept walking. Saile paused for a second as Tain's insult hit him.

"Maybe you should stop being mean! If you spent less time complaining, we'd be in Tieran by now!"

Tain didn't even bother to turn around again. Saile stuck his tongue out at him, and started making a farting noise. All of a sudden, Tain slammed his foot into the ground, which caused a large pillar of rock to launch Saile high into the sky.

"Ahh… peace and quiet." He hummed to himself.

Saile fell back down to earth, but right before he hit the ground, a water pocket formed in the air and Saile landed safely. He pulled all the water off him using his bending and put it back into the gourd.

"Woo! That was fun!" he said. Tain simmered.

"Look, can we please just have five minutes of quiet? Five minutes! That's all I ask."

"O.K." Saile said.

They managed to walk quietly for about thirty seconds.

"So what do you think Cayenne is up to?" Saile asked. Tain face palmed.

…

ACHOO!

Cayenne rubbed her nose, wondering where the sudden outburst had come from. She sat on the dock on the edge of the water nation, waiting for the ferry to take her south to the earth nation. She had decided to run most of the way to this ferry town, using her inner chi as fuel. She made it there in only a few hours.

_I hope I'm not getting sick._

…

The ferry chugged out slowly as Cayenne watched the shore slowly fade away. She sighed as she realized that this was going to be the longest part of her trip. Checking the map that Lot had given her, she calculated that Banzai's house would be about three days walking distance after they made it to the other shore. She wondered how long she would have to stay with him to learn what she needed to.

_Hopefully it won't be too long, I never really told them exactly how long I'd be gone._ She cringed at the thought of them going on without her. _ Some princess I am…_ stopping, she frowned. _ Wait, why am I so concerned with those two? I'm a princess! I can't be out playing with a stubborn earth bender and a childish boy. What is it that ties me to those two?_

As the ferry landed in the earth nation, Cayenne found the answer to her last question. The wind blew, causing several pieces of paper to scatter at her feet. She looked down and she went cold. There, staring back up at her were three familiar faces. Underneath their pictures was a small caption that described how three young benders had allegedly infiltrated an air nation meeting assembly, wounded several men and stole important documents. It also said that it was rumored the fire nation princess was the girl in the picture. At the end it read in bold letters: 'This is reason for WAR. High price reward for capture of, or information pertaining to these three.'

"What a mess…" Cayenne sighed.

_I can't let them use me as an excuse for war!_

She quickened her pace

…

Saile started whistling again.

He was happy, because according to the map, they were already a week into the earth nation. Once they got to Tieran, they would still have to wait till Cayenne got back to them, but that was just more time he could spend making friends with Tain.

"Saile! Will you please stop being so freaking annoying! I swear, if I had anyone else to travel with, I'd ditch you right here and now. That way, I wouldn't have to deal with your never ending whistling!"

It had been almost three days of traveling, and Tain hadn't really talked to him at all, except to yell at him that is, even at night he would turn away from the fire and go to sleep before they could talk.

"Well sorry! Maybe if you get your face out of your bib and talk to me, we could become friends!"

"It's not a bib! It's a scarf!" he yelled back, but he quickly mellowed out as he considered Saile's words. They walked in silence until Saile started whistling again.

When the sun was a little past halfway in the sky, they decided to rest for a bit and eat. Tain earth bended a small circle of stone to rise up out of the ground with a larger circle surrounding it to form a makeshift picnic table. He then formed two large bowls, which Saile filled. After they had eaten, Tain noticed that they were running low on provisions.

"Your grandpa didn't give us enough food to last us the whole trip. Not only that, but we don't have enough money to buy any more. We're going to have to hunt soon."

"Oh yea, I almost forgot about that!" Saile said as he started rummaging in his backpack. "We do have money!" He pulled out a large sack of coins. "Grandpa said we should go to the city west of where we are to stock back up."

Tain started to get mad again, but decided it wasn't worth it and sighed. "I really wished you would have told me about this sooner."

…

As they neared the city, they found it packed with people and wagons. They couldn't tell if they were entering or leaving the city but one thing was for sure, something was going on.

Tain and Saile exchanged glances, and headed in through the city gates to investigate.


	7. Cayenne's Master

A/N: hey all, sorry it took so long to get this post up. I've been busy with school and quitting my job. Once I get to college I'll get a little more serious with keeping a posting schedule. enjoy.

The hike to the hermit's house didn't take as long as she had expected. Back when she was little, she had to travel all over the place with the Avatar in her training, so despite her status, she was accustomed to it. She slowly approached the small hut in the middle of the forest. It confused her that a master of fire bending and a very high ranking person of the fire nation would choose to live in the earth nation. She pulled her pack a little tighter around her and knocked on the moldy door.

The door groaned in protest, and to Cayenne's surprise it collapsed in a cloud of dust. Coughing, she stepped in.

"Master Banzai, are you here?" she called out into the empty hut. Looking around, she realized that it was much more spacious than it appeared from the outside. She lit the small fireplace with a few movements and light blazed into the tiny building. She smiled at her control of the flame. Normally, kids her age were still struggling to control the fire, let alone be able to bend it the way she could.

"Ah, another fire bender has come to learn my special technique I see." A mysterious worn out voice called from across the house. Cayenne turned to see a tan, leather faced man standing there with a peculiar look in his eyes. Cayenne bowed as she greeted her master and apologized for breaking the door.

"Master, I've been looking for you for a while now. I have come to learn what only you can teach me: how to lightning bend."

"Why?" he replied simply.

Cayenne blinked as the question caught her off guard, but her answer came quickly.

"So that I can keep peace and to do my best to prevent this impending war from happening."

"Your answer still seems vague…" he commented.

"Wha…?"

"Follow me." He interrupted.

_What's with this old man?_ She thought annoyed, as she followed him out to the small clearing behind the hut.

"Are you sure you want to learn this technique?"

"Yes sir, I am."

"Then you must first defeat me!" the old man leapt into the air and lunged at her with fire. She sidestepped and responded with a low spin kick. He jumped sideways easily and sent a small ball of fire at her head. She smelled the burned singes of hair as she ducked and sent a fireball of her own back at him.

"Is that all you got? I'm not impressed!" he taunted.

Cayenne kept her cool even though she was on the defensive. As she blocked and dodged his attacks, she searched for a flaw in his form, only there were no flaws to be found. Finally she took a risk. If she was fast enough, she could make it before he readied his guard. If she wasn't, she ran the risk of taking a flame to the face. She shot a fireball, and as Banzai blocked it, she ran up and shot a fireball next to his face.

"I am fighting to protect my people and the other kingdoms. If this war begins using lies and grudges, or if I'm the one to blame for my actions, then I WILL STOP IT!"

The hermit smiled as he stopped moving. Cayenne stood, breathing hard with her fist still extended by his head.

"Now _that_ is a much better reason." He said as he smiled, and with that he turned and walked back into the house leaving Cayenne with her thoughts.

…

That night, after the hermit fixed his moldy old door, they decided to sit near the fire for tea and dinner.

"I'm honored." he said suddenly after sipping his tea, "To think that the fire nation princess would grace me with her presence. I didn't expect you for another few years." Cayenne blushed at the sudden praise.

"Due to the circumstances, we will begin training at dawn. You must make haste back to the fire nation."

"Yes sir." She replied.

…

Cayenne breathed deeply as she balanced atop an upturned log. Her fists were touching right below her stomach to help her concentrate. The sun up above was beating her shoulders. It was only midday and she was still only going over the basics of breathing and form control. A look of impatience must have passed over her, for at that moment, Banzai spoke.

"Patience princess, you must relearn discipline in order to move on to the next step of my training." He paused, inspecting her for any flaw or waver in her form. Not finding any, he moved on.

"Remember that in order to master this technique, discipline is the key. You must have a tight leash on your temper, as this is the deadliest form of fire bending. Five-hundred years ago, your ancestor, princess Azula learned to lightning bend, but did not learn discipline. In her process to force her way onto the throne, she hurt many people, but was eventually stopped by the avatar and his friends. Fire lord Zuko made sure she spent the rest of her days locked up. This is not a technique for the weak hearted. Remember that princess."

Cayenne nodded. She remembered the story from her fire nation history classes when she was little. She let her hands fall to her sides and then raised her arms, palms facing out. Her breathing was calm and even as she felt the warmth of the sun on her face.

"Now princess, since you seem to have the basics down, it's time to move on." Cayenne felt excitement well up inside her, but she quickly suppressed it. "Point your index and middle fingers at the sun and place your other index and middle fingers vertically on your lips. Next is the most important part as it will keep you from losing your temper. Think of everything you are fighting for. Think of your people, your family, and your friends. They are the reason you want to learn this technique. Without a clear picture, the power will drive you mad."

Cayenne mentally went through all the most important people she had met in her life. She pictured all the people she had met; she pictured the fire nation capitol in all of its glory. She thought of the Avatar and all the lessons she had learned from him. She saw her family and her father. Then she thought of Tain and Saile.

_Why in the world did I think of those two?_ She thought, and then her concentration broke.

She braced herself as she teetered off the log, barely managing to catch herself.

"What happened princess?" Banzai asked. "Is something wrong?"

She sighed at her failure. "No, I'm sorry master, I just lost my concentration."

Banzai smiled again with that mysterious look in his eye that made Cayenne think he could see into her soul.

"Looks like you have some thoughts to sort out. It's time for tea anyway."

Cayenne smiled at the strange old man. "Yes master."

…

Banzai leaned over the table. "So what has you bothered dear girl?"

Cayenne looked up from her tea. She hadn't touched it yet. At first she was quiet, but after gathering her thoughts, she spoke.

"Honestly, I'm not sure myself. In my travels, I met these two boys; an earth and a water bender. All three of us wound up meeting in the same place. I've only known them for a few days, yet when I pictured all the people most important to me, they popped up last. It bothers me that they are at the front of the list." She glanced over at the old man to find him snickering.

"My, my, princess. _Two_ men?"

The small fire beneath the tea kettle flared as her cheeks turned pink with embarrassment.

"It's not like that!" she yelled

"Well now, I was only joking."

"Well it's not." She growled.

"I may be crazy, but it seems to me that you and those two boys are bound by fate. I foresee you three becoming very close."

Cayenne sighed. "We are supposed to all meet back up at Tieran when I'm done with my training. On my way here, I found a city that had wanted posters for our capture. We made quite a mess out of things, and I believe the air nation is going to use our meddling as an excuse to begin the war. That's why I feel as if it's my responsibility to stop it."

"Ah, I see."

"They're using us as propaganda. By searching for us, they will be able to invade all the other nations. Not to mention what the people will think when they find out that the girl in the pictures is the fire nation princess."

"It seems you have quite the weight on your shoulders. It seems also that your fate is tied to those boys even tighter than I thought. Friendship is a very important thing. Don't forget that your friends will be willing to aid you in your journey. They will bear the weight of responsibility with you so that you won't have to carry it alone. This is the reason those two have become so important to you."

Cayenne sat quietly as she reflected on her master's words and took them to heart.

"I believe you're right master. I feel more at peace knowing why. Thank you."

He smiled again sipping his tea. She thought she saw his eyes sparkle.

…

The next few days were spent going over and over what she had already learned. She reflected on what Banzai had said and thought more and more about Tain and Saile.

_Friends huh? I only hope they will be able to see past the royalty and accept me for who I really am._

…

She breathed in deeply as master Banzai walked her through more positions and stances.

"Now concentrate on the end of your two fingers. Gather you Chi until it is borderline painful." Banzai instructed.

She felt her energy flowing through her and rush to the end of her fingers. She felt like they were going to explode. Her body began to quiver as she held her form, waiting for Banzai to tell her what to do next. After a few moments, she realized that he wasn't going to say anything.

"Master, I'm confused. What am I supposed to do now?"

He smiled yet again. "I've taught you all that you need to know. The rest is up to you."

"What…" she said, her voice dropping in displeasure.

"Just as I said, I taught you all I can. Lightning bending is a peculiar form of bending because it has no form. Think of a storm and how the lightning strikes quickly, yet randomly. The same can be said of this form of bending, and because of this, each lightning bender must create their own specific style. Fortunately, all styles are the same up to the point that I have taught you."

Banzai focused his chi to his fingers on his lips. He held one hand in the air, also with pointed fingers. He spun, thrusting his fingers from his lips forward and at the same time, touching his heart with the other hand. An arced bolt of lightning leaped from his fingers and slammed into a tree not far from where they were.

Cayenne watched as the rest of her patience died. She hopped off the log.

"So that's it. I'm done?" she growled.

"Yes princess."

Cayenne lost control of her temper.

…

Banzai rested as he nursed the lump on his head. Cayenne sat ashamed in the corner.

"I'm so sorry master. I have dishonored my family and made a fool of myself. I lost control of my temper just as you said I shouldn't." She was at the brink of tears.

The old man sighed. "Don't fret my dear student. If I remember correctly, I acted the same way when my teacher revealed that to me. You should practice a bit before you leave to catch up with your friends."

Cayenne shook her head and went outside. She pictured what she had seen him do to bend lightning and thought she'd try that first.

She mimicked his exact movements, but when she thrust her fingers out ward, nothing happened. She spent the rest of the day trying different ways to project her lightning, or to even form it. She felt like she was getting nowhere so she went back inside to speak with Banzai again.

She found him in his usual spot by the small fire sipping tea.

"Master, I've practiced all day and I feel like I still don't know any more than I did."

He looked at her. "My dear, lightning is a very powerful and very dangerous thing. It can't be "controlled" or forced to do anything. It will lend you its power only when you need it. You must first gain the lightning's respect before you are able to use it." He looked away.

"What? What is that supposed to mean?" she asked thoroughly confused.

"What are you talking about?" he said.

"What you just said. It makes no sense. Gain the lightning's respect?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about princess."

She stopped asking further questions. Later that night, she bid the hermit farewell. He had taught her all he could, so she was going to leave to catch back up with Tain and Saile. She embraced the old man, and as they separated he slipped something into her hand. She looked down at it and realized what it was.

"A pai-shou tile!" she exclaimed, as she flipped it upside down. On the back of the tile gleamed the symbol of peace: The White Lotus.

"Give my regards to your father when you see him. I'm going to rejoin the White Lotus. Tell him we will do all we can to help restore the balance to the nations."

She smiled at him and bowed in gratitude. Banzai placed his fist into his palm and bowed back.

As Cayenne walked away she heard Banzai yell after her.

"Kick some air nation butt!"

…

Cayenne walked in silence. She had made a small flame on the tip of her finger so that she could read the map the Avatar had given her in her travels with him. She smiled at the gift, but her thoughts strayed to the information they had received at the air nation base. The thoughts made her queasy. As if in answer to what she was thinking about, the sound of wings flapping cut through the air. She looked up to see the silhouette of her messenger hawk against the moon. She was happy to see him after walking alone for so long.

She put Hawkee away in his cage and attached it to her pack. She looked down at the map and smiled.

_Looks like I'll make it in time after all. I just hope those two haven't gotten into any trouble._

The next day as she was walking, she saw the four elements shoot into the sky; the symbol of the Avatar making an appearance.

"Maybe I'll make a small stop on the way to meet up with an old friend."


	8. Blades and Women

Tain walked through the streets of the small city looking for anything that could tell him what was happening. He spied a beggar. Grabbing Saile's money bag from off his side he opened it, grabbed a large handful of coins, and threw it back at Saile who caught it with protests. He walked over to the beggar and tossed him one coin. The man's eyes grew wide as he saw the other coins.

"I have a few questions for you." Tain told the man. The man nodded. "Why are there so many people outside?"

"You don't know?" came the raspy reply. "The avatar is here."

"That's interesting." Tain said holding the coins out. The man realized he wanted more information. He barked out more things so that he could get the money.

"Everyone has come to see him. He is supposed to make a speech. We are the first city to hear. Lots of people have come to hear him to tell other cities."

"Thanks." Tain said. He dropped a few more coins to the man and the rest into his pocket. The man quickly scurried off down a side street. Tain turned to Saile.

"So Saile, where do you want to go…" he trailed off as he realized Saile was gone. He was about to yell out but he stopped. This was perfect. He could go and meet up with Cayenne without the annoying little kid. He almost smiled. Almost. He grabbed the scarf around his neck and pulled it up over his mouth as he made his way into the city.

…

He just couldn't help himself. He got so excited at hearing that the Avatar was in town that he just bolted. Besides, Tain was just being mean to him. As he excitedly ran through the streets of the city, he started to notice that no one else was as excited as he was. In fact, everyone seemed kind of unhappy. Thinking back to what Tain had done, he grabbed a handful of coins and walked over to a man who was sitting in the shade.

"Hey mister!" he called to the man, "why is everyone here so down in the dumps? The avatar is here! Shouldn't you be celebrating?"

The man snorted. "Don't you know anything kid? Look around. Air bender patrols walk the streets and bully our families and the Avatar…oh yes, the mighty Avatar! He went to the air nation to talk to them about what they were doing. When he came back, he was an air nation puppet. He is on their side now. Now that we've lost the Avatar, what hope do we have?"

Saile was stunned. He dropped the coins at the man's feet and started to run toward the middle of the city. There was no way that the Avatar, his hero, could be a bad guy now. He needed to find out for himself.

Dazed, he raced through town. He spotted an air bender patrol walking in front of him. He turned to run down a side street and collided into a huge man. As he looked up, he saw the now grinning man holding a piece of paper. On it was a smiling picture of Saile and a large reward price for his capture. The big man grabbed Saile's wrist in an iron grasp and called for the guards.

…

Tain blended into the crowd well. After all, he was part of the earth nation. He walked, picking up bits and pieces of conversations. Most of what he heard was concerning the Avatar, but as soon as they started talking about him, their voices dropped to a whisper. He started to feel concerned about Saile. He hadn't seen him since he ran off.

_What am I thinking! Why do I care about that annoying little kid?_

Distracted by his thoughts, he walked straight into a wall, which knocked him back. Rubbing his face, he looked up to see that the wall he had walked into was a very large man dressed entirely in white. The white katana gleamed on his back. The man looked down at Tain, then at the paper he had in his hand.

"You…"

Tain saw the large print across the top of the page: "WANTED". Knowing he was in trouble, he reacted without hesitation. Tain leaped into the air and brought his knee into the man's chin. Out of nowhere, a fist flew at Tain's face and slammed him in the mouth. The force of the blow knocked him back several feet and into the wall of a shop. He licked his lip tasting the hot blood rush out.

As fast as he could, Tain started running. In one of the shops he ran through, a large crate blocked his way. He used some earth bending to launch him over it and just in time too. As he landed, the crate exploded as a ball of air connected with it.

Tain turned and shot two rocks at his pursuers, and without waiting to see if they hit or not, he turned the corner and continued running. He tried to stay in along the shops, running through them as much as he could to try and get away. When he was near the end of the street, the store in front of him exploded as multiple air blasts sped by him. The vegetables in the stand blew out across the street and made a big enough commotion for Tain to get away.

"MY CABBAGES!" the stalky store owner cried.

He rounded another corner of the street and dove into the first store that had a door. He waited with baited breath as the shouts and footfalls of the patrollers passed the building. He let out a sigh of relief as he took in where he was. He found himself in a weapons store. Swords and clubs lined the walls. Sharpening stones and other hooks and clips were in bins around the store. He walked up to the closest sword rack and started looking. One blade in particular caught his eye. The blade was unsheathed to display the blade and sheath at the same time. The handle of the weapon was solid black to match the blade. It had small onyx studs to help with grip and the sheath of the weapon was also black. He picked it up, and checked to see if anyone was watching him. He slid the sword into its sheath, and put it on his hip to see how it looked.

"This blade is beautiful…" he said to himself. That's when he heard the voice.

"What in the HELL do you think you're doing? Don't touch that!" a lady said from behind the rack. Tain whipped around and gasped. Standing in front of him was a beautiful woman. She had dirty blonde hair and her clothes barely covered what they were supposed to. She stomped her way over to him and snatched the sword out of his hands. He now noticed that her jacket revealed a large amount of cleavage and in her belt hung two very bizarre looking clubs.

"I was, uh… interested in, um… buying this." He managed to choke out.

"Well you can't afford it." She looked at the sword then back at Tain. Her fingers jammed him hard in the sternum.

"Your finger marks are all over it! If the manager of this store weren't out at the moment, she'd kill me! Probably throw me back to the air nation! It would be all your fault!"

She repetitively stabbed him until he fell back into a case of swords, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. The girl stood stunned with rage and fear. As the dust settled, an elderly lady was standing in the doorway of the shop. She was glaring at the girl.

"TORA! I can't believe this! You've only been here for two weeks, I leave the store for one second and you and your friend rip the whole place down! Get out!"

Tain felt his heart drop into his feet. _Poor girl, I feel terrible._

"I... It's not… yes ma'am." She mumbled.

"Tora, I…" Tain started to apologize, but as he did the door blew open and three air nation guards walked in. One pulled out a piece of paper and looked at Tain. The other two looked at Tora. Tain was ready to fight, but Tora was faster. She threw the black sword to the ground and whipped out her clubs and pointed them at the two guards. A loud explosion rang through the small room and the two guards hit the ground. The other guard looked at Tora and ran. Tain picked up the sword and ran over to the girl.

"He's in here!" a man said from beyond the door.

"We need to leave! Follow me!" the girl said. She grabbed his wrist and ran through the store, taking them through a back way out. They could hear the patrol unit barreling through the small weapons shop behind them. They sprinted through the city making as many turns as they possibly could.

_I wonder why she attacked the guards so fast. She might have a bigger reputation then us._

His thoughts drifted to Saile and Cayenne.

"I hope they're all right." He said quietly to himself.


	9. Avatars

A.N. sorry it took so long to get this next chapter posted. But I'm finally settled down at school so I'll start working on the story more.

The man holding Saile was grinning even bigger as he looked down his prize.

"You're gonna be just what I need to get that advancement. You have no idea how lucky you are kid."

_It's worth a try…_Saile thought as he formed his plan of escape.

"HELP! PLEASE! THIS MAN IS ABDUCTING ME! YOU'RE NOT MY DAD MISTER!"

As he yelled, people in the streets started looking at them. As the big guy was trying to reassure the people he was only capturing a wanted criminal, Saile broke the man's grip and made a mad dash down one of the side streets.

"Get him!" the man shouted angrily, "That's the wanted water bender!"

Saile looked over his shoulder to see everyone who had heard the man, look at him as he ran. He could almost see their minds working as each one spent the reward money in their heads. Then, as if they were all bidden by the same force, the entire crowd surged forward. Saile ran for his life.

"I only want to see the Avatar!" he yelled at the crazed mob.

"YOU! BOY! STOP WHERE YOU ARE!"

_Great, just what I need, more air heads. Time for action!_

Saile pulled water out of the gourd and down his arm. He spread his arms, spreading the water out across the street in front of him. He maintained control of it as he ran over it and froze the water the moment he was clear. The frenzied mob behind him became a comedy of slip sliding idiots. Every one of them fell as they tried to run past the ice, and even more fell as they tried to catch themselves on other slipping idiots. Saile only just made it down a side street as the sound of the calamity reached him.

Saile was laughing proudly as he ran through a building and out the back entrance. Eventually, after he was sure he had lost the crowd, he stopped to look around. He noticed that the city looked much nicer and cleaner compared to where he had been so far. He also noticed that there didn't appear to be any people. He looked down side streets as he walked past, but couldn't seem to find anyone. The next street he looked down he saw two people run by. One of the people was defiantly a tall blonde woman, the other he couldn't really tell because he was matching the girl stride for stride. He could, however; see that the other person was wearing a sword.

_Wonder what their problem is._

Suddenly, a loud explosion rang from the other side of the street. As he turned around, four large pillars of each element rose into the sky and the sound of people cheering rang out.

"Finally!" he said, and ran off in the direction of the Avatar.

…

Tora slowed and came to a stop, putting her hands on her knees and breathing hard. Tain slumped against the wall behind him, sword still griped tightly in his hands. He stared Tora down.

"Why did you get in my way back there? The guards were after me!"

"Oh, get over yourself! Didn't you hear them? They had a warrant for my arrest too!" she paused to catch her breath and stood up. "Anyway, judging by your clothes, you must be the earth bender kid. Everyone in town knows the story of how you and your friends destroyed an air bender camp a few miles from here."

"Yea…" his thoughts went back to Saile. _Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on him… _"One of my friends is in the city. I need to find him and tell him the guards know were here now."

Tain pushed himself off the wall. He was looking at the sword and noticed that one side of the scabbard had clips on it. He used the clips to attach the sword to his back so that the hilt was over his right shoulder. Tora watched as he tested the length of the sword by pulling it out of the scabbard. He slid it back in and looked at her.

"Well, I guess I'll have to go with you now wont I?" she pulled out some strange rocks and stuffed them inside the clubs she was carrying.

"Uh…why's that?" Tain asked, watching her stuff more ingredients into the clubs. "And what are you doing?"

"Listen, they want both of us and you're gonna need me to keep your butt out of a cell." She said as she finished messing with the clubs. "And these are called guns. It's kind of like earth bending a tiny rock really really fast when I set them off."

Tain was about to question further when they heard voices behind them.

Tora slid the guns into her belts. "Time to move!"

They ran down mostly side streets into the nicer parts of town. They were about to stop to take another break when four huge pillars of each element shot into the sky, the signature move of the Avatar making an appearance.

…

Saile found all the missing people from the streets. Every one of them was trying to push or maneuvered themselves through the crowd into the stadium. Saile filed in with the rest of them. More people were pouring in behind him. Saile found a seat near the entrance he came in about halfway up the rows of seats. As he sat down, he noticed the Avatar standing on a raised platform in the middle of the stadium. He wore the traditional long fire nation robes. His hair was tied up in a top knot with the hair piece of the fire nation Avatars before him. He had a long thin mustache that hung to his shoulders. Four people surrounded him in the colors of the four nations.

As Saile watched, they all started fighting. It was obvious that it had been staged. The fire nation man lost first, then the water nation lady, followed by the earth nation man. The air bender man was the last one standing and his loss was sealed when the Avatar launched two huge boulders at him. Suddenly, the air nation man pulled out two small clubs from inside his shirt and with small explosions, made the rocks break apart in thin air seemingly by magic. The entire crowd had gone silent and sat shocked.

"How that air bender do that?" a man near Saile asked.

"Is he able an earth bender too?"

"Was it magic?" Another person asked.

The Avatar started to speak, his voice echoing through the entire crowd.

"My fellow People, what you have just witnessed, is the way of the future! Through the use of science and technology, the air benders have created a new type of weapon. They call them guns. With the use of this new technology and with my help, we will usher in a new era of peace!

For a hundred years, under the terrible rule of fire-lord Ozai the fire nation ravaged the land and nearly wiped out the air nation. My ancestor Aang was the only one left. With the help of his beautiful wife Katara, they started the air nation back again with their three children. After Katara's death, Aang took on two other women before his heroic death. It has been over five hundred years since that time and the air nation still hasn't fully recovered from the fire nation's destruction. As if it wasn't enough the fire nation and the white lotus still refuses to grant any land to the growing air nation population.

It is time, my friends, for the air nation to take what they have every right to own! To take back years of suffering! To bring a people back from the brink of extinction, and to start this new era of peace! An era where the white lotus can no longer tell us how to run our countries! I, the Avatar of people, raised in the fire nation, can see the truth of the air benders ways.

In one month's time, an army of air nation soldiers, trained in the ways of master Sokka himself, will march on the fire nation. There we will make our final negotiations, or we will have WAR!"

The crowd erupted in applause.

Saile stood up as if to scream at the Avatar, but all he could do was stand there dumbfounded. He pushed through the clapping people to get to an exit. As he pushed people over, a guard spotted him.

"Hey! You're the water nation kid who destroyed our base!" and within seconds he was surrounded. "Let's see how the Avatar will deal with spies!"

Saile saw that more and more attention was being directed at him. Other guards ran over and formed a full circle around him. He knew he needed to get out of there. Drawing out a large amount of water, he formed it into a line circling his body like a shield. He launched it outward and froze the water. Every guard surrounding him was thrown backward and he took off running toward the exit.

…

Tain sat there as the crowd erupted into applause. He was looking a Tora's guns. He was going to ask about them when she pointed down into the crowd.

"Isn't that the white haired water bender kid you've been looking for?"

Tain realized he needed to hurry. He grabbed Tora's wrist and started running. He formed giant pillars of earth as steps to get to where Saile had just been. The guards were just recovering as he ran through them.

"Hey Saile!"

Saile turned to see Tain with a sword on his back and the tall blonde woman he had seen earlier. He also saw that what had to be the entire city guard was behind them.

They ran through the city heading for the main gate. Right as they got to the gate house, Saile saw someone he recognized. A girl with dark hair and a hawk nested on her backpack was walking through the gates ahead of them.

"Cayenne! Hey!" Saile shouted.

"Saile? Tain? What…" she looked past them to see the guards in hot pursuit. "What's going on?"

Saile grabbed Cayenne's wrist as he ran by her, which spun her around and got her running too. Hawkee screeched as his roost was yanked out from under him.

"I'll explain later, just run!"

They cleared the gates and Tain stopped. He stood still for a few seconds, then summoning up all his concentration, stomped the ground and slammed his fists together. The city gates slammed closed shut in the guard's faces.

"That won't hold them for long! Let's go!"

The four of them ran off toward the south east forest, hoping they could lose whatever came looking for them there.


	10. The Attack

A/N Thank you so much to everyone who has posted comments or subscribed. You all keep me motivated to keep writing these. Special thanks to Xamem for the constructive criticism. (I typed up chapter 10 and 11 after getting the alert on my phone.)

Enjoy all!

As they ran, Cayenne had Hawkee keep a look out. Twice they stopped thinking they had outrun the danger, and twice Hawkee screeched announcing otherwise. After they made it well into the forest, they found a small cave, and since Hawkee had kept quiet after entering the trees, Cayenne made the call to camp for the night. Saile poured water on himself to cool off.

"Ahh… that's feels better. I'm so sick of running! We should just fight them." He shook off the water like a dog, splashing Cayenne. She hit him in the gut.

"Watch it you idiot!"

"Shhh! Do you _want_ them to find us?" Tain scolded, and slumped against a rock. He watched Cayenne look at Tora's clothes disapprovingly. He needed to ease the tension.

"Ah… guys, this is Tora, I met her in the city. She's got a warrant out too, same reason as us."

Tora smiled briefly then went back to keeping watch.

"Hopefully they'll stop looking for us soon and we can head to the fire nation capitol." Cayenne said quietly, "At least there we won't have to run for our lives anymore."

Tora looked back at Cayenne.

"I can come with you all to the fire nation, but I can't go to the capitol." She looked down.

"Why not?" Tain asked.

"I have my reasons." She looked back into the forest. Tain looked perplexed.

"What are those things you have on you?" Cayenne asked Tora, "I've never seen clubs like those before."

Tora looked back glad for the change of topic.

"Oh, these? These babies are the reason I got a warrant on my head. They're called guns.

I used to be in the air nation guard. I left after I found out what they were really trying to do, but not before I stole these. We were being trained in weapons, being trained to kill, not to defend. That's why I left."

"Those are the same thing the Avatar was talking about right Tori?" Saile asked.

"Yea… and it's Tora."

"I know. I like Tori better though."

Cayenne stood up. "Wait, did you say the Avatar had guns too?"

"Yea, he's on their side." Tain said.

"WHAT!" Cayenne practically screamed, "What do you mean?"

Tain recapped the Avatars speech and Tora filled in what he missed. Saile piped up and added comments too. Cayenne collapsed into a disbelieving heap.

"I can't believe it…" her voice was barely more than a whisper, "He was my master. He taught me everything I know. He always said he would be on the side of peace. How could he think that what they are doing is peaceful? How could he….."

The bushes near Cayenne rustled as the wind blew through them. Everyone jumped. Saile had water out and Tora had her guns pointed. Only Tain did not stir.

"Relax, if anyone was this close to us, I'd be able to feel their footsteps through the ground. We should all get some sleep; it's been a long day."

Saile yawned at the proposal of sleep.

"Good idea. Night guys!" he said and walked into the cave.

…

Saile really had to pee. It was the middle of the night when he decided to go out to find a good tree. About half way through his business, he noticed a fine feather on the ground. He finished and went over to it.

_This is one of Hawkee's feathers._

After looking around, he noticed another feather, then another. He followed the feather trail to a bush, and when he looked behind it, Hawkee's crumpled body lay in a pool of blood. Saile felt something that he had never truly felt before: Anger. He heard someone move behind him. The anger consumed his body. Bending water, he spun to face a man dressed in pure white. The enemy. He let his anger flow into the water, and launched a ball at the man's face. Saile froze the water as it entered the man's mouth, and at the same time ran towards him. The man didn't even have time to react. Saile slammed an uppercut into his chin, shattering his frozen teeth instantly and knocking the man unconscious. He turned to see two more men run out of the bushes. Saile ran towards the camp as fast as he could.

"Guys! The air benders are here!" he yelled. Then a wall of earth slammed into him.

…

Saile's cry rang through the small cave. Tora was the first one up with Tain and Cayenne not far behind her.

"What's going on?" Cayenne asked, "Hawkee would have warned us of any danger!"

Tain looked at her and was about to say something, when a barrage of rocks came flying in the cave. He only barely made a wall in time to block them and ran out into the clearing.

"Cayenne, give us some light!" he yelled, but when he turned around, she wasn't behind him. He was alone. Tain reached up and drew his sword. It comforted him somehow. He crept ahead in the night until he got to a clearing. An air bender lay on the ground with his mouth open. He seemed to be missing most of his teeth. He looked around for any sign of Saile.

"So, you must be one of the punk kids that have been giving us so much trouble." A man stepped out from behind a tree almost directly in front of Tain. He was wearing pure white clothes and had a pure white Katana strapped to his side. His heavily slurred voice seemed full of confidence.

Tain readied himself in what he thought was a formidable battle stance. The man looked at Tain and laughed.

"Well, the Avatar never said dead or alive."

The man drew his sword and flew at Tain faster than he could imagine. In moments the man's sword came crashing down overhead. Tain only just got his sword up fast enough to block.

_This is bad…_

…

Saile opened his eyes to find himself somewhere in the woods. He had only just managed to cushion the blow of the rock wall.

_Guess I should be thanking grandpa for that move._ He thought to himself as he stood back up. _I don't think I'd be getting back up if I hadn't got the water there in time._

He started to move but froze when two earth benders burst through the bushes in front of him. The two only paused for a second before sending deadly missiles of earth hurling at Saile. A wall of vines blocked the path ahead.

_Well, here I go…_

Saile turned around to face the two Earth benders.


	11. This is for hawkee!

Saile steeled himself against his fear. He started to move the forms to throw a ball of water at the two guards, pulling water from his gourd. As the ball started to form, an earth missile connected with his shoulder. The force sent him flying through the vines behind him. His body was in shock. As he slowly pulled out of his daze, he realized he still hadn't hit the ground. The vines above him seemed to fall away. He landed on what felt to him like a thick sheet of glass. As he broke through it, he realized it was water. Looking over at his shoulder he realized he was bleeding. Bad. Normally he would be panicking at the sight of so much blood, but for some reason, his head seemed oddly clear. He knew he was a water bender, and he was now in his element.

Somewhere, he could still feel a part of himself panicking, but that part of him seemed distant. He felt stronger, more alive, as if he was a new person, but more than that, he felt cold. Without thinking, he froze the water around his shoulder wound to stop the blood finding it surprisingly easy to concentrate. He brought himself up to the surface of the water. The two guards were at the top of a small cliff looking down. Both of them were wearing Air Nation clothes and one even had a white katana strapped to his back.

"He's still alive! Get him!" Saile heard from above.

He watched the two guards bend two melon sized rocks from the ground. Saile laughed coldly. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was screaming. He sent two pillars of water to catch the rocks as they fell like meteors.

Saile summoned a sliver of water.

At the same time he focused water around his legs and shot himself up to the ledge of the canyon like an inverted water spout floating in front of the guards, who were frozen in fear and awe. He moved his arms as he had done thousands of times before training with his grandpa. In his new frame of mind, he found it easy to control the moving water, but that didn't matter.

Saile called the dragon.

It came raging forth as a torrent of water. It was every bit as amazing as the one his grandpa had summoned in their practice. He had done it without freezing the water. He pointed at the two dumbfounded guards. The dragon flew at them and in one fluid motion, opened its maw and engulfed the two men. He pointed again and the dragon moved out over the ravine, the guards floating inside its belly. Saile held his arm out, his palm facing up and his fist balled.

"This is for Hawkee."

He flicked his hand open, fingers up. The dragon froze.

"And this is for my friends."

He slammed his hand shut and the dragon exploded. Whatever was left of the men was raining down into the ravine. The ice band around the wound melted off. The blood was gone, and to Saile's amazement, so was the wound. The strange feeling that had come over seemed like it was receding.

_What just happened to me?_ He thought. Then he realized something that dropped him to his knees. Gripped in despair, he realized that he had just killed two men. The though was too much to bear. He retched and fell to the ground. His vision became blurred by his tears, but he didn't care anymore.

_I'm a killer. A murderer. Those men had families, children._

Saile brought his knees up to his chest and in the middle of the woods, he began to cry.

…

Tora could hear a strange noise. She had barely managed to get away from the few guards she ran into, but after her guns told their legs to stop working, she managed to get away fine. She stepped into a small clearing to find Saile in a ball, sobbing his eyes out.

"Where are you hurt kid?" she asked.

Saile just shook his head.

"Well, at least you're safe, you best be lucky I'm not one of those Air Nation guys. Otherwise you'd be dead."

Saile started into a refreshed bout of tears.

"Come on! I don't know why you're crying, but your friends are in danger. We need to move. NOW!"

"Cayenne…I…" Saile started.

"She's in danger Saile. We need to go. Can you walk?"

Saile blinked tears out of his head. He looked at Tora realizing she wasn't cayenne. She was a mess. Her normal ponytailed hair was everywhere; she had a large gash on her thigh. Her guns were tucked in her belt, but she had two large machete like knifes in her hands.

"I can walk." He sniffed.

"We need to find Tain and Cayenne and get the hell out of here."

Upon hearing his friend's names, Saile was able to stop crying. He thought fondly of them. He thought back to all the time he had already spent with them.

"Saile! Let's go. Your friends need us."

At hearing Tora's words, he steeled himself against the despair.

_That's right. Our friends need us. My friends need me. I will make up for what I've done. I swear, Grandpa, I will._

Saile stood up and wiped his face. He looked at Tora and nodded.

"Good."

She grabbed his wrist and took off through the woods again. After a short distance they came to another clearing. A tree nearby had been shattered by a rock, and another was cut as if by a blade.

"I'll go this way after Tain. You go find Cayenne. Meet back here."

Saile shook his head weakly. Tora took off through the trees and Saile was alone again.

_I have to save my friends._

He took off running through the trees. He started to think of what his grandpa taught him of water bender basic fighting. He wasn't too good on anything past the beginner level. He summoned the first weapon all water benders learn to use. The water whip. He wound it around his arm as he learned and skidded to a halt as the sound of battle reached him. The sharp peals of metal on metal rang through the air. He steeled himself once more and stepped into the battle.

…

Tain was quickly running out of energy. He was no match for the white robed man with a sword, so he was earth bending mostly, only using the sword to defend and try to off balance the man. He was failing. The man swung for Tain's left side. He blocked it barely, but the sword slipped from his grip and skidded across the ground. He moved the forms and brought two columns of earth at the man as fast as he could. The pillars exploded in a cloud of dust as the robed figure wove a ball of air to shield himself. Tain swore.

_He's an Airbender too? Great._

In the same motion, the man shot a column of air at Tain. He rose a wall of earth to block it, but the force of the blow was tremendous. It blasted the wall apart and sent Tain flying. He slammed into a tree and dropped to the ground.

_Who _IS_ this guy?_

The airbender blasted Tain with another column of air, causing Tain to blow through the tree. Tain managed to get to his knees before the man was on him again. The robed man put his sword to Tain's throat.

"You're pathetic," he sneered, "Your blood is not even worthy to graze my blade. Before you die, I want you to know that you are nothing. My name is Mordacai, and that is the last name you will ever hear."

As he raised his blade into the air, a frozen spike of water shot through the air and stuck into Mordacai's chest. He turned to look at Saile, unfazed at the now melting spike in his chest. Tain saw his opening. He pounded the ground causing a small area of earth under Mordacai's foot to shift. The man stumbled and Tain rolled to safety. Saile threw a full barrage of ice spikes at the man. He managed to block most of them, but Tain's maneuver had done the trick. Mordacai spun and took the remaining ice spike in the back. Saile ran in closer unwinding the water whip around his arm. Tain stomped the earth summoning four boulders. He sent them flying at robed man. Mordacai sucked in air, moved through a few quick forms and screamed.

A shockwave blew through the air. Tain's boulders crumbled in mid-flight and all of Saile's spikes shattered. Tain put his hands to his ears. He looked at Mordacai with hatred. The man's white robes were stained red with blood, but he still stood as if unaffected. Saile ran and stood next to Tain, a determined look in his face.

"My, my, so serious aren't we?" Mordacai taunted. "You really are lucky I fought with the avatar earlier. If I had been at one hundred percent, you'd both be dead right now."

He sheathed his sword.

"Guards!" Mordacai's voice echoed through the woods. "We retreat."

He looked directly at Tain.

"You will not get so lucky again boy." He sneered. Then he turned and rushed off into the woods.

Every fiber in Tain's body screamed for him to chase after the man, but he could barely stand. Mordacai's words echoed through Tain's head.

"_Your blood is not even worthy to graze my blade. Before you die, I want you to know that you are nothing." I will beat you. I swear I will._

"Thank you," Tain said to Saile, "…for coming. I was a goner for sure."

"Of course. That's what friends are for, right? Now come on, we need to meet Tora and Cayenne."

Tain walked over to where his blade fell during the battle. He picked it up and stared at it.

"Next time _Mordacai_," He slammed his sword back into the sheath on his back, "You're mine.


	12. CampFire

**A/N * Hey guys. glad to be back. Another year of college is over and now that i'm back home my friends and i are writing again. were already at least 8 chapters into another notebook. I can promise that we will finish this story before the end of the summer and that i will eventually post more. Sorry for it taking so long, but thanks for staying with us. Also check out the deviant art account on my profile, Cayenne's writer posted more pictures there! ENJOY!**

Cayenne raced through the forest. The noise of rustling from the trees around her was her first cue that she was being followed. She noticed a clearing ahead and decided that she would make her stand against the enemy there.

A pillar of earth shot out of the ground underneath her feat. It caught her by surprise, but she was still able to use it to propel into the clearing. She tucked and rolled into her battle stance. Six enemies jumped out from the trees forming a circle of alternating Airbender and Earthbender troops. Nobody moved for a breath, the clouds parted casting the moon beams into the clearing and the wind rustled her hair.

Cayenne sighed, "Great…"

The enemies moved first shooting thin pillars of rock up at her and air blasts that would all hit simultaneously. She concentrated her chi into the air around her, burst it into flames, and spun and twisted as she dodged the pillars. She then jumped up and ran along the length of a pillar, and with a fiery three part combo, launched the Earthbender into a tree. Sensing the wind around her, she ducked just as a ball of wind shot over her head. An Airbender was running in to shoot another blast but she grabbed his wrist before he could shoot and flipped his body overs hers and into the ground with a solid smack. She heard the breath escape him as he was knocked unconscious and knew that was another one down. The other enemies attacked relentlessly. She dodged and ducked until finally taking a rock square in the chest. She landed on her back and had to roll to miss a blade of wind. She flipped up and charged the rest of the attackers. She noticed one Airbender whose guard wasn't as perfected as the others and concentrated fire on him. She broke his guard and finished him with a solid blow to the gut.

The next barrage sent Cayenne hiding behind a tree.

"So much for that bounty on my head"

She ran out launching her biggest flame ball yet causing the Earthbenders to pull a wall up. Cayenne Sped towards the wall and cleared it before they knew what was upon them. She landed on one of the Earthbenders and did a spinning fire kick to end him. The last Earthbender had lifted a large boulder into the air and held it hovering above him. Cayenne did a surprise fire attack from her foot that sent a line of fire at his feet. He yelped and the boulder came crashing down on top of him.

Cayenne stood there panting when she realized she had miscounted.

_Wasn't there another Airbender?_

A click ran through the clearing and the clouds moved so that the moonlight was gone. Standing alone in the darkness was one last man with a strange club thing that looked like an L shaped stick pointed directly at her.

_What in the world is that?_ Cayenne thought. She had never seen the weird thing the Airbender was holding before. She had heard that they were developing new strange weapons.

"Goodbye princess." He said.

A large explosion cracked through the air. Cayenne dropped to her knees. The fight against the other benders had wiped her and she knew she had no strength left in her. That and the blast noise had turned her cold. She waited for the final blow. A soft thunk sounded from where the Earthbender was. Tora stood off to the side with one of those strange club weapons smoking. She walked over to Cayenne and offered her help. At first she was reluctant to take her hand, but after a small mental battle, she took her hand with a small "thank you".

"No Sweat" She said as she walked over to the downed Airbender. "Huh, the shock of getting hit must have made him pass out. I only hit his hand."

"What did you do to him?" Cayenne asked looking warily at the smoking club.

"I shot him. These are called guns. They're the new weapons the Air Nation was working on. See."

Tora shot one of her guns at a tree. Cayenne watched wide eyed.

"Come on, we need to find Tain."

"And Saile." Cayenne added.

…

Saile was relieved to see his friends back safely again. He heard the gunshot ring out and jumped on Tain, tackling him to the ground.

"What the hell Saile!"

"Sorry, those gun thingies scare me."

After that they decided they should set up some sort of defense in case they were caught off guard by some more benders.

"Better to be prepared" Tain mumbled.

Tain pulled up a small circle perimeter around him and formed four small bowls on the wall at Saile's direction. Saile clapped his hands and formed a few movements and sat very still. When Tain was about to tap him, water streamed from the ground, filled the four bowls, Saile's gourd and made into a water whip with the rest. Tain fingered his sword hilt and slid it out a few times to make sure he could pull it out quick if he need to. They stood there breathing hard and tense waiting for something. When the bushes rustled by Saile, they both nearly destroyed it, but Cayenne and Tora appeared and they all relaxed. Cayenne ran over and hugged Saile while Tora walked over to Tain smiling. Cayenne half hugged Tain too and he suggested that they leave. Everyone agreed and Cayenne, using the stars, pointed them in the right direction, the direction of the ferry city.

…

Cayenne was setting up camp about a day's travel out from the ferry city. No one had really talked since the ambush at the cave. Suddenly Cayenne realized what was bothering her. She lit the fire and passed out the last of the jerky she had in her pack.

"So, does anyone know how they managed to find us?"

Saile's head went down and everyone looked at him. He looked as if he was on the brink of tears.

"I know" He said sadly.

"Cheer up kid." Tora said. "Saile managed to kill three benders all by himself."

Tain and Cayenne stared. Saile whimpered.

"They traced us through Hawkee. I went outside the cave to go to the bathroom, I saw his feathers on the ground and I kinda lost it. Something came over me and I lost control, but I was really calm. I'm not really sure how I did it. After I… I killed them…" He choked back a sob. "I felt like a different person. I really didn't mean to, I was just so mad that they killed Hawkee."

Cayenne's heart filled with sorrow for Saile.

_I can't believe that little kid managed to kill three benders. He must be so confused right now._

Saile continued.

"I cried and cried, and as I thought I deserved to die with them, I thought about you guys. I realized that you are the best friends I've ever had and I promise; I will _never _let anything happen to you guys. I swear…"

Tain grinned "Saile, you're so sweet." Tora punched him hard in the shoulder. "But really man, thanks. We'll be here for you too."

Saile looked up at Cayenne and the rest of them.

"Thanks guys."

"That's what friends are for." Cayenne said.

Tora pulled out four cups from her pack and offered them to Saile. He was confused for a moment, but after realizing he could help, he smiled and filled them with water.

"Watch this." He said grinning.

He popped his fingers open and the water in all the glasses instantly chilled. Everyone laughed.

"Okay, not gonna lie Saile, that was pretty cool." Tain nodded at Saile.

Cayenne and the group sat in silence as they drank the water. Cayenne decided she would break the silence first. She talked to Tain and Saile first and then Tora.

"So, how did we all manage to meet up anyway? What were you two doing in the air base? And how did _you_ manage to meet Tain?"

Tain put his face in his drink. No one was talking so he looked up at the sky.

"I'm from a city about two days west of Ba Sing Se. It's a small little village. My father wanted us to live there after he made General in the Earth nation. When the Air Nation started taking control they caught him trafficking and protecting Fire Nation refugees through Ba Sing Se."

Cayenne looked down. She knew what the air nation did to people who were involved with the Fire Nation.

"What made you leave?" Saile asked.

"They made us disappear. Made up some story about dad and banished us. I couldn't just sit at home while our family's honor was being destroyed."

The cup in Tain hand suddenly shattered. He stood up abruptly.

"Sorry 'bout the cup." He mumbled examining his hand. "I'm going to bed."

Cayenne watched Tain walk off away from the fire.

…

Tain walked to where he knew he was out of sight. The battle with Mordacai had been bothering him.

_I need to relax_ He thought, _They're good friends._

He reached up to touch the sword handle, the steel felt good on his cut hand. He thought back to Mordacai's words:

"You're pathetic, your blood is not even worthy to graze my blade. Before you die, I want you to know that you are nothing. "

_Never again._

Tain slid his scarf off and tossed it aside. He drew the sword and gripped it with both hands. The sword felt right. He moved picturing Mordacai in front of him as he flowed through moves and positions. Standing alone with his sword, he fed all his emotions into his training; his anger feeding his blade. He trained until his arms felt like lead. Then he trained some more.

_Never again._

…

Saile watched as Tain left the light of the fire.

_I hope my dad is still out there and okay._

Silence again persisted around the fire. Saile was watching the fire dance on the shattered remnants of Tain's cup.

"I only remember my dad a little. I remember that we used to go to the base before it was controlled by the air nation. It was a shrine to an Air Nomad Avatar from the past. He says that we played an important role in the past and that our family has much honor. I was only 7 when my mom died. I still don't know exactly how, but it was too much for dad. He left and I haven't seen him since. The next morning when I woke up, my hair had turned white like this. Grandpa says it was mom's spirit touching me as she passed on and that it would protect me. At first I was so mad at him for leaving me, but Grandpa tells me that I should not be, that my dad is a great man and that he had a good reason for doing what he did. He tells me that my dad is a hero."

The air was pretty thick after all the talk of the past. Cayenne and Tora were looking at Saile with concern so he looked back at his hands.

"So what are we going to do when we get to the fire nation?"

"We're going to the fire nation?" Tora asked with a little too much venom.

"You didn't know?" Saile said happy to lighten the mood. "Of course we are! Cayenne is the princess."

"What?" Tora gasped, "She is?"

They both looked at Cayenne who nodded in confirmation. Tora looked away looking hurt. Saile stood up stretching.

"I think I'm going to call it a night too."

As he looked for a place to sleep a cricket chirped next to him causing him to jump back.

_I really need to work on my battle skills…_

A familiar sound caught his attention, and he smiled as he discovered a small creek of running water. A miniature waterfall of about four inches was the cause of the noise. Emboldened he started to bend. He went through everything he knew. He started with the basics and worked his way up trying to apply everything he could to a battle situation. Almost everything he knew was completely useless in a battle and he purposefully did not summon the ice dragon. He found one thing that he had never thought about that used the test to see if you have the water healing ability. He summoned the water around his hand as he was taught and decided to go with the first thing that came to mind. He flicked the water at a small nearby tree and turned the water into ice as it flew. The ice needles thudded into the tree and buried fairly deep. He summoned up some courage and with a new idea, formed the water around his fist again, ran forward and punched the tree right where one of the spikes had buried deepest. He froze the water on his fist just before impact and the result was the needle in the tree got pushed all the way through and he ripped it out of the tree like a blade from both sides. The little tree toppled over as it had been sliced in half. Satisfied he found a place to sleep and drifted off with strange new thoughts of Cayenne.

…

Cayenne felt slightly awkward after Saile and Tain left. Tora looked just as uncomfortable and was staring at the sky or the trees or really anywhere else but Cayenne trying to avoid eye contact.

She wasn't surprised by her reaction. Other than Saile and Tain, practically everyone treated her differently after they found out she was the princess. Cayenne couldn't tell if Tora was just nervous now or if there was something else.

"Thanks for saving my life back there. I didn't realize the bounty would be good dead or alive. I shouldn't have let my guard down."

"No sweat… uh..princess…"Tora said trying to be formal.

"You can just call me Cayenne. It's what my friends call me. I don't care for formalities anyway."

The two smiled and Tora looked away.

"What are the plans once we get to the Fire Nation?" She asked solemnly.

"Well, I need to inform my father about what I know of the Avatar and the Air Nation, and…" Cayenne winced, "… and I need another messenger hawk.

"Well you will be safe till we get there."

Cayenne felt the exhaustion finally catch up to her and Tora seemed to feel the same way. They both stood up at the same time, said good nights and went looking for a spot to camp for the night. She looked until she found Saile sleeping by the stream.

_Good night Saile._

Cayenne made camp just out of view of him and went to sleep. Tomorrow they would be in ferry city ready to cross into the fire nation.


End file.
